GRANTS: Where's rest of the money?

I think I must be missing something here. The total federal grant money received by the city of Coeur d’Alene, according to The Press, was $295,366. Nice chunk of change to be split between three different nonprofits that I am sure could each use one third of that money. But wait, my addition of the monies to be received by the three nonprofits only totals $121,000!

If my math is correct, $174,366 or 59 percent of the grant monies appears to be going to non-nonprofits/expenses. Does anyone else have a problem with this? As also stated in the article, “A portion of the money” is going for an assessment of housing needs. Whose housing needs? Who is doing this assessment? Is it a private company? What kind of money are they being paid for this “assessment?” Why is it necessary? If this assessment is being done by someone already employed by the city why do they get paid extra? Something doesn’t smell right…

With regard to using some of the monies for sidewalks for compliance with ADA updates, I’d like to see the where, the why and the costs for these updates.

Finally, “costs associated with the application process” should also be explained as to who was paid and how much they were paid for the “process.” Was this an independent grant writer or someone already employed by the city of Coeur d’Alene? Unless I am mistaken, the $174,366 was paid out of our federal taxes. I think we have a right to know exactly where it is being spent.

LAGONDA McDONALD

Coeur d’Alene